The frequent accidents recorded on four major roads in the country could impede the attainment of projections in the tourism sector, Mr. Fred Agbogbo, Director of the Agency for Sustainable Development (ASD) said on Monday.
Mr. Agbogbo named the roads as Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Elubo through Cape Coast and Takoradi, Kumasi-Sunyani and Accra-Aflao.
”These roads lead to three of the country’s best tourist attractions and they accounted for 80 per cent of the fatal accidents in the country.”
He was speaking at a two-day workshop organised by ASD, a Ho based non-governmental organisation, for 20 drivers under the theme; “Help Achieve a Zero Tolerance for Road Accidents in the Volta Region and beyond.”
He said these accidents were a disincentive to the government’s efforts to generate substantial foreign exchange through tourism, the fastest growing industry in the world.
Mr. Agbogbo, quoting a National Road Safety Committee (NRSC) statistics for the first quarter of 2002, said 579 deaths occurred out of 8,980 accidents. This worked out to 96 deaths per month and three deaths daily.
Mr. Agbogbo highlighted incompetence of drivers, drunk driving, over-speeding, dangerous spots and pedestrian carelessness as some of the major causes of road accidents in Ghana.
Mr. Vincent Darkey-Mensah, Board Chairman of ASD, expressed regret about the Ghanaian attitude of disregarding opportunities for refresher training in their fields of specialisation.
